Front Text: In 1779 John Bowman's forces followed the east bank to Glady Run, then north to the Indian village of Old Chillicothe. In 1780 and 1782 militia commanded by George Rogers Clark, and guided by Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone, crossed the river and camped two miles north of Caesar's Creek, then marched on the villages near Springfield, Piqua, and Bellefontaine. Back Text: Same

Address: Constitution Park -Intersection of Ohio Route 725 and Main St, Spring ValleyLocation: left when traveling north on State Route 725

Front Text: On this site in 1809, pious Christians from Virginia and North Carolina erected a Methodist Church, the first in Greene County. The church was officially organized on May 23, 1807 as the Bonner Society. Frederick Bonner, Sr. and the illustrious Rev. John Sale were the principal organizers. This Methodist Church, one of the oldest in Ohio, has been serving the area known as the Union Neighborhood uninterrupted from this site since 1809. Rev. Bennett Maxey was the first pastor. Back Text: On this site in 1809, the first organized school in Greene County was established. Organized by Methodists from this community, classes commenced on January 1, 1810 with a total enrollment of twenty students. A multi-purpose log building 35' x 35' was erected that served as a school during the week and a Methodist Church on Sundays. A log cabin 16' x 16' was also erected for use by teachers and their families. Noted educator, John P. Finley, brother of the illustrious Rev. James B. Finley, was the first school master.

Front Text: The great Native American Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, was born on the bank of a large spring at this site in 1768, at the very instant that a great meteor seared across the skies. The birth occurred while his parents, Shawnee war chief, Pucksinwah, and his wife, Methotasa, were en route from their village of Kispoko Town, on the Scioto River, to a major tribal council at the Shawnee tribal capital village of Chalahgawth (Chillicothe - now Oldtown), which was located "two arrow flights" northwest of this site. Though prohibited by tribal tradition from becoming chief of the Shawnees, Tecumseh rose to become one of the greatest warriors, orators, and military strategists of any tribe in America. Back Text: To oppose the grave threat of rapidly encroaching white settlement on Native American lands, Tecumseh successfully molded and became the leader of a confederation of tribes numbering some 50,000 warriors. This opposition might well have succeeded had it not been for his jealous younger brother, Tenskwatawa, The Prophet, whose rash acts precipitated the Battle of Tippecanoe and undermined all Tecumseh's efforts. Forced by circumstance to ally himself and his remaining followers with the British in the War of 1812, Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames near present Chatham, Canada on October 5, 1813.

Location: North on SR 68, Right on Kinsey, immediate left onto Old Springfield Poke, located at the park, Oldtown

Front Text: In 1849, each state in the Union was invited to furnish a block of native stone for the construction of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Geologists selected stone from this quarry, then owned by Wilford McDonald, as typical of the best quality in Ohio. The dimensions of the limestone block used in the Washington Monument, which was cut and polished by Daniel Bunnell of Xenia, are 6 feet x 3 feet x 9 inches. The inscription on the block of stone reads as follows: The State of Ohio/ The Memory of Washington / and / The Union of the States / Sunto Perpetus Back Text: Same

Location: U.S. 68 South through Xenia, 3 ? miles past Xenia, left on Stone Road, 1 mile down Stone Road, on left hand side, 50 feet from road.

Front Text: This historic village was a hub for early Ohio industry and travel. The natural geography of the area provided ideal conditions for the establishment of a variety of mills. Col. Robert Patterson, an ancestor of the founder of National Cash Register in Dayton, John Patterson, chose Clifton for the site of a woolen mill, which furnished material for the American army during the War of 1812. Davis Mill, established in 1802 and in operation today as Clifton Mill, produced meal and flour for Civil War troops. A major stop on the stagecoach trail, "The Accommodation Line," which ran from Springfield to Cincinnati from 1827 to 1840, the village bustled with the commotion of travelers. The once flourishing industry of Clifton faded as railroad traffic bypassed the village and manufacturers left the area. Back Text: Same

Front Text: Moncure Daniel Conway was born on March 17, 1832 in Stafford County, Virginia, the son of Walker Peyton and Margaret Daniel Conway. His father was a wealthy slaveholder and prominent state legislator and county court justice official while his mother, who opposed slavery, introduced her son to abolitionism. Conway graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania in 1849 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1854. Despite his southern aristocratic background, Conway, influenced by his mentor and friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, strongly opposed slavery and eventually religious orthodoxy. Much of Conway's career was spent abroad, where he became a writer and scholar, writing such notable biographies as Emerson at Home and Abroad (1882), Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1890), and Life of Thomas Paine (1892). Back Text: The cabin of Dunmore and Eliza Gwinn, the leading family in the Conway Colony, was located east of this site and overlooking Glen Helen. In 1862, Reverend Moncure D. Conway, who in 1858 had served as minister for the First Congregationalist Church in Cincinnati, established a colony here for former slaves from his family's plantation in Falmouth, Virginia. Fighting between Union and Confederate forces near the plantation had displaced the family slaves and a large group of them assembled in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. to join Conway for the arduous journey through slave-holding states to Ohio. Conway believed that the colony would be accepted in Yellow Springs, a village known for its progressive ways, due partly to the influence of Horace Mann, the president of Antioch College for its first six years.

Front Text: Clifton Gorge is a classic example of a canyon cut into dolomite and shale bedrock that dates to the Silurian Period 400 million years ago. Created by meltwater released from the retreating continental glacier some 15,000 years ago, the cool, moist gorge has maintained a diversity of native plants, such as the red baneberry bush, that are now rare elsewhere in Ohio. The Little Miami River powered grist and cotton mills, paper factories, and breweries in the gorge during the nineteenth century. In 1973 the upper gorge became a state nature preserve. Back Text: Same

Front Text: In the early 1800s, William and Eleanor Kendall owned this land, known for its natural springs, beauty, and farmland. In 1850, Elias Drake, lawyer and former speaker in the Ohio General Assembly, purchased the property and named it Tawana or Xenia Springs. He developed a health resort hotel surrounded by summer cottages, all of which were completed the following year. "Tawana" is believed to be Shawnee for "clear or gold water," alluding to the clear, mineral-rich springs. From its beginnings, the resort did not fare well as it was popular among southern planters who, much to the consternation of nearby antislavery sentiment, brought slave entourages whenever they came. In October 1855, negotiations for its sale opened with the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which purchased Tawana Springs, including 54 acres and the hotel and cottages, for $13,000 to establish a university for African Americans. (Continued on other side) Back Text: (Continued from other side) Wilberforce University, the nation's oldest private historically African American institution of higher education, was founded at Tawana Springs in 1856. Tawana House, the resort's hotel, was remodeled for recitation rooms and other school activities, and the cottages were utilized as dormatories. Several reasons have been suggested for choosing Tawana Springs as the site for Wilberforce University. Foremost, perhaps, is the large number of African Americans that settled in Greene County as the result of the migration patterns of freed slaves before the Civil War and the Underground Railroad, which passed through the area. It is also suggested that Tawana's natural beauty and readily available structures enhanced the selection. With the Civil War causing a decline in student enrollment, the first university failed in 1862. The following year Bishop Daniel A. Payne purchased the property on behalf of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Payne became the first president of Wilberforce and the first African American to lead a university.

Front Text: At the turn of the twentieth century, increased enrollment in the Combined Normal and Industrial Department at Wilberforce University (which later became Central State University) spurred construction of new teaching and dormitory facilities. Galloway Hall, which included an auditorium and a tower with chimes and a clock, was completed in 1906. Many famous personalities performed in Galloway Hall's auditorium, including the renown opera singer Leontyne Price; Robert McFerrin, the first African American male lead with the New York Metropolitan Opera; actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis; comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory; and composer and conductor Duke Ellington. Noted authors and intellectuals addressed audiences there, including historian John Hope Franklin; writer, poet, actor, and playwright Maya Angelou; Lerone Bennett, author, historian, and editor of EBONY Magazine; and writer and essayist James Baldwin. (continued on other side) Back Text: (continued from other side) Other notable people who spoke to audiences in the Galloway Hall auditorium include prominent figures in the Civil Rights Movement such as Thurgood Marshall, then senior legal counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later Supreme Court Justice; Daisy Bates, journalist, president of the NAACP, and "advisor" to the "Little Rock Nine," and A. Phillip Randolph, International President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Galloway Hall was named for Dr. William Galloway, who served as president of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department's Board of Trustees. In 1974, only the tower remained of Galloway Hall when the famed Xenia tornado cut a wide swath through Greene County and destroyed the building.

Front Text: James Sr. and Rebecca (Junkin) Galloway moved with their family to Greene County from Kentucky in 1798, constructing their first home, a small log cabin. Galloway built the present structure around 1799 near the bend in the Little Miami River near what is now Goes Station on U.S. 68. In 1936, the Greene County Historical Society moved the home to the corner of Second and Monroe streets and then to the present site in 1965. The 1974 Xenia Tornado caused serious damage to the building, which has been restored and maintained by the historical society. James Sr. served as a hunter during the American Revolution, procuring game for the army, and while in Ohio, was the first treasurer of Greene County. His son James Jr. served as the first County Surveyor. Back Text: On April 3, 1974, at 4:40 p.m., a devastating tornado touched down here, destroying a large portion of the City of Xenia. The mile-wide tornado entered in the southwest quadrant of the city and did not leave the ground until it had demolished hundreds of homes, schools, and commercial buildings. A total of 34 lives were lost, including two National guardsmen who were in a building when it caught fire. Hundreds of people were injured with property losses exceeding more than $100 million. For weeks following the tornado, the sound of trucks was heard throughout the city carrying the remains of homes, schools, churches, and businesses. This marker stands directly in the path taken by the tornado and serves to remind us that-"Xenia Lives."

Front Text: In 1854, Samuel and Rebecca McClellan Collins deeded 1.28 acres to Beavercreek Township, Greene County, for the purpose of building a schoolhouse. The first two schoolhouses were constructed of stone with fireplaces for heat. Collins neighborhood children in first through eighth grade were educated in the present red brick building until 1944, when decreased enrollment forced Xenia Township to close the school. Virgil and Helen Bryson Brantley, great-granddaughter of Samuel and Rebecca Collins, purchased the school property in 1982 and began the restoration of the vandalized and deteriorated schoolhouse. The pony/coal shed and privies were rebuilt on their foundations. Back Text: Same

Front Text: After his home was destroyed by fire, George Barrett decided to build a home that would survive another disaster. An article Barrett read by O.S. Fowler in New York described a new building material that used gravel, sand, and lime. Cement was a less expensive and more time efficient construction material than brick. Unable to get help from a mason, Barrett gathered the material and built the house himself. Completed in 1853, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Back Text: Same